As the spring term rolls forward at Keene State College (KSC), so do the new terms for Gov. Kelly Ayotte and Pres. Donald Trump, leaving the campus community in uncertain times.
Trump has repeated multiple times, both on the campaign trail and now that he has been sworn into office, his desire to slash government spending in all areas and change DEI laws. His new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is headed by the owner of Tesla and X, tech billionaire Elon Musk. On Monday, Jan. 20, Trump signed hundreds of executive orders including one formally establishing DOGE as a “temporary agency” according to a CBS News article and “one that rescinds Executive Order 11246, a cornerstone of equal opportunity policy for federal contractors that has been in place since 1965 under the Johnson administration,” according to the ACLU. Trump also signed others that rolled back federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs and took aim at the transgender community regarding “gender ideology extremism,” according to a Boston Globe article.
Ayotte has campaigned with a slogan “Don’t Mass up NH” and former Gov. Chris Sununu called her the “full package” in an interview with NHJournal. Ayotte has recently formed her own Committee for Government Efficiency (COGE) according to The Boston Globe. This comes while taking down the webpage for the Governor’s Advisory Committee for Diversity and Inclusion according to NHJournal and her government is passing sweeping expansions to the Education Freedom Accounts (EFA) program.
This leaves sentiments of uncertainty on how we go forward as a community according to Ian Kaplan, coordinator of LGBTQ+ Student Services in KSC’s Office of Student Diversity, Belonging and Equity, who said, “Everything is speculation right now.”
Mike Welsh, professor of political science, and Jacob Favolise, senior and Keene city councilor for Ward One, shared this same concern of speculation.
Welsh added, “We shall see how much of this stuff gets traction and how much makes a big difference.”
However, as we go forward, Kaplan said he wanted to be clear: “Regardless of what happens, Keene State will maintain its value in supporting LGBTQ+ students.”
Kaplan added he sees the potential for increased need of support for marginalized communities because “we are living in a moment where not everyone in our national community is communicating that LGBTQ+ identity is positive and normal and should be a celebrated facet of identity.”
Timothy Fitzpatrick can be contacted at
tfitzpatrick@kscequinox.com
